The Mumbai Police arrested Bhavesh Bhinde, the owner of advertising agency Ego Media that had erected the billboard that collapsed on a petrol pump in the city’s Ghatkopar, from Udaipur in Rajasthan on Thursday, reported The Indian Express.

The accident, which killed 16 and injured 75, occurred on Monday at around 4.30 pm near the Chheda Nagar Gymkhana when Mumbai was hit by a duststorm.

After the billboard collapse, the city’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, said it had not granted any permission or no-objection certificate to the billboard set up by Ego Media. It added that the hoarding measured 120×120 feet, although the civic body allows a maximum size of 40×40 feet.

Subsequently, the Mumbai Police booked Bhinde and others under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 337 (causing hurt to another person by acting rashly or negligently) of the Indian Penal Code.

The police had launched a manhunt to trace Bhinde as he reportedly fled the city following the accident.

On Thursday, Lakhmi Gautam, the joint commissioner of police (crime) in Mumbai, said Bhinde was nabbed from Udaipur where he was staying in a hotel under his relative’s name.

“The accused [Bhinde] will be brought to Mumbai on May 17 morning for further legal proceedings,” Gautam was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

The police said that Bhinde was also charged in a rape case earlier this year and a cheating case in 2016, The Indian Express reported.

He had contested the Assembly elections in 2009 as an independent candidate from Mulund. According to his affidavit, 23 cases had been registered against him under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act and the Negotiable Instruments Act (for bounced cheques), The Hindu reported.

Meanwhile, the municipal corporation on Wednesday issued notices to the Central Railway and the Western Railway, asking them to remove billboards on their land that are larger than the allowed size of 40×40 feet.

“Taking into consideration the geographical position of Mumbai, the coastal region, its weather and wind conditions, the civic body has decided not to permit the erection of hoardings larger than 40×40 feet in size,” the civic body said.

It also claimed it had undertaken a demolition drive against illegal hoardings “on war footing”.

On Monday, the municipal corporation said that the Assistant Police Commissioner (Administration) had given permission for the billboard on behalf of the Commissioner of Police (Railways Mumbai).

The Central Railway, however, said that the hoarding was not on its land and was not related in any way to the Indian Railways.